For some uses, standard ear tips either will not provide sufficient seal to block out external noise that might interfere with sound quality in the user's ear and/or to provide noise reduction to protect the user from external sound that could potentially cause hearing damage, or will not be sufficiently comfortable to be worn for long periods of time. For example, if the ear tips are used with an in-ear communication device for use during working hours, then the user might need the ear tip to provide an effective seal against environmental noise (as might be required by OSHA regulation, for example) and to be sufficiently comfortable to be worn during an entire work shift. The ear tips of the present embodiments are designed to provide a comfortable, long-wearing seal for a user's ear. This can be especially important for deep-insertion ear tips, such as those needed for the QuietPro device made and sold by Nacre AS. Such deep-insertion sound devices interact with especially sensitive portions of the ear canal, making comfort issues particularly important. This is especially true since such devices are often used for extended periods, with users leaving the ear tips in place for many hours (often 8 hours or more). And the QuietPro device, for example, also requires an effective seal despite these comfort concerns, since it checks for seal effectiveness in order to allow for effective communication even in loud noise environments.
Typically, comfort design constraints conflict with the quality of the seal. In other words, for most standard ear tips a more comfortable ear tip would result in a decrease in seal effectiveness. Applicant has designed new ear tips, however, which provide seal effectiveness while also being sufficiently comfortable to allow for long-wearing usage.